Mudgee Travel & Cruise’s Glenn Box wrapped & dispatched two trucks full of Christmas ‘presents’ to struggling farmers last year, all thanks to the generosity of fellow Travellers Choice members.
Almost $12,000 was raised for Box’s charity 200BALES – set up last year to buy much-needed stock feed for drought-affected farmers in the NSW mid-west region – during the Travellers Choice Shareholders’ Conference in Cairns in early December. As well as member donations, suppliers such as The Africa Safari Co., U by Uniworld, Adventure World, Scenic and Swagman Tours all chipped in with cash and raffle prizes.
The hay bales purchased with the funds arrived in mid-December and three days before Christmas they were loaded onto two semi-trailers in Mudgee and delivered to local farmers. The whole process involved an army of volunteers – including Travellers Choice’s official mascot Trevor – who did everything from loading trucks to manning the BBQ.
Box says the rural families were hugely appreciative of the travel industry’s efforts, and the whole process perfectly demonstrated a key theme of Travellers Choice’s conference: ‘The Power of Connection’.
“By creating 200BALES we were able to forge a connection between local farmers and Mudgee Travel & Cruise, which then connected with the wider Travellers Choice network and ultimately with the broader travel industry to provide real assistance.”
Glenn Box
“All I can say is thank you so much to everyone who contributed because this charity hasn’t just saved livestock; we know that it’s saved people’s livelihoods and in some cases saved lives.”
To date, 200BALES has raised almost $500,000 and dispatched more than 60 semi-trailers, with fund-raising activities ranging from lemonade stands and school mufti days to a ‘Day in the Dirt’ country music festival at the Mudgee Showgrounds.
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